You can find the introduction and Tyler's booklist here. A post on what is in our Morning Basket will follow soon.
This booklist is for Caleb who is 14 and in the 9th grade. His list is adapted from Ambleside Online (AO) Year 7. Adaptions were made to make sure he is working at a high school level and to accommodate our personal preferences.
One thing I failed to mention in the introduction/Tyler's list is that AO is a rigorous curriculum. Year 7 is high school level in my opinion. Their years are not written to follow along to an equivalent public school grade. I picked year 5 for Tyler because it was about where he was in history. (He really was at year 4 history rotation but I thought the book choices for year 5 were more at his level.) I picked year 7 for Caleb because most of year 9 book choices were to far above his level. Year 7 also matched up the best for his history rotation too.
I'm not linking to the books I pulled from AO but you can find links to that material here (and I will say what AO year I pulled them from if not year 7). Books that are not AO will be linked to sources of purchase. None of the links are affiliates.
History/Geography: (British history heavy this year)
The History of England by Arnold-Forster
Light to the Nation Volume 1 (just to add a Catholic component, a well-rounded world history, and Church history)
The Crusades by Hilaire Belloc (term 2 & 3 reading)
The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin (term 1 & 2)
Geography reading for term 3 is still up in the air. We will use a suggestion from AO or we may use Why Greenland is an Island . . . by Joyce Davis
Map drill of Europe
Science:
We decided to take an integrated living book approach for high school science. At the end of 4 years Caleb should have a credit for biology, physics, chemistry, and whatever other sciences his reading list covers.
Eric Soloane's Weather Book (term 1 reading)
A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawkings (AO year 8 science-term 1 reading)
First Studies of Plant Life by Atkinson
The Amateur Natuarlist by Gerald Durrell
The Practical Botany for Gardeners by Geoff Hodge
King Soloman's Ring by Konrad Lorenz (term 2 & 3)
And probably an undecided chemistry book once term 1 books are finished.
Literature:
Prose & Poetry for Enjoyment
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle (term 1)
Term 2 & 3 readings are undecided at this point, but those choices will come from the year 7 list.
Grammar/Dictation/Writing:
At first glance it may look like Caleb's language arts does not follow a Charlotte Mason philosophy, but even though I went with "programs", we follow them in a CM inspired way. I truly think we are sticking to Miss Mason's principles with these programs.
Fix It! Grammar: Robin Hood
Spelling You See
IEW: Medieval History Based Writing Lessons
daily oral narrations and written narrations
Math:
Math-U-See Algebra 1
Caleb also uses xtramath.org to review basic math facts. We also use Khan Academy for extra help with Algebra.
Logic:
How To Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Chares Van Doren
The Fallacy Detective by Bluedorn
Art:
The Story of Painting by Janson
A Child's Book of Prayer in Art by Sister Wendy Beckett (term 1)
Picture Study Portfolios-da Vinci (term 2)
(term 3 artist not chosen, yet)
Art For Kids-Drawing by Temple
Religion:
To The Heights: A Novel Based on the Life of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (I don't think this will take all year to read but I don't have other saint books picked out yet.)
Chief Truths of the Faith by Fr. Laux
Government/Economics:
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy by Richard Maybury (term 1)
Term 2 & 3 readings are undecided but we will most likely get them from AO year 8 and continue reading the Maybury books.
Foreign Language:
Caleb has picked Spanish. I don't have any resources to share. Caleb has started Spanish, but I'm still working on customizing a program to work for high school level and in a Charlotte Mason way. It's a tough order to fill!
Caleb is also working on getting PE and health credits this year.
Our educational philosophy follows a Charlotte Mason liberal arts education that focuses on our Catholic faith.
This year we've made some changes to achieve that by following the Ambleside Online curriculum.
Tyler is 11 and would be 6th grade in brick and mortar school. Tyler's book list is based off of year 5 at AO. I made a few changes to year 5 for Tyler and those changes made were mostly in bible/religion(since we are Catholic we are going to use Catholic resources). Any other changes made were because of books we already had on hand or Tyler's personal preference in book selections.
I'm not linking the book selections from AO. You can find links to those here. Selections not from AO will be linked to where you can find those. None of the links are affiliates.
History/Geography:
This Country of Ours by H. E. Marshall
Abraham Lincoln's World by Genevieve Foster (term 1 & 2)
The Story of the World Volume 4 by Susan Wise Bauer (term 3)
Of Courage Undaunted: Across the Continent with Lewis and Clark by James Daugherty (term 1 reading)
a book on Beatrix Potter (not picked out yet, term 2 reading)
Carry a Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Teddy Roosevelt by George Grant (term 3 reading)
The Book of Marvels: The Occident and The Book of Marvels: The Orient by Richard Halliburton
Home Geography by C. C. Long
Map drill on South American, North America, and United States
Science/Nature Study:
Wild Animals I Have Known by Ernest Thompson Seton
Christian Liberty Nature Reader 5 by Worthington Hooker
The Story of Inventions by Frank Bachman
Rocks, Rivers, and the Changing Earth: A First Book About Geology by Schnieders (this was a replacement to Lady How and Madame Why since that book was started in year 4 and too big to complete in one year)
Chemistry Kit for experimenting (AO recommended a physics experiment book but Tyler got this last Christmas and really wanted to finally dig into it)
Science biographies (one book per term)on Sir Isaac Newton, Alexander Graham Bell, and George Washing Carver. AO has some recommended titles but I searched our local library and went with what they had to avoid the extra cost of purchasing. The only suggested book our local library had was the Always Inventing by Tom Matthew, which we will use.
Literature:
The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch
King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I added in Pagoo by Holling C. Holling, which is in year 3 science recommendations, since Tyler has not read it and we are going to the beach very soon.
He will also read a book by Rudyard Kipling in term 2 and/or 3 (once King Arthur is finished). I haven't decided on which one yet. AO recommends Kim, but we may pick another since Tyler has not read any of his books yet.
Free Reading selections:
Little House series
continue the Narnia series
Bush Boys series
The Hobbit
Language Arts:
Using Language Well Book 2 from Simply Charlotte Mason
Spelling Wisdom Book 2 from Simply Charlotte Mason (which may be too hard for him, so we may go back to books 1)
one weekly written narration
Fix It! Grammar: The Nose Tree (perhaps overkill with Using Language Well, but I couldn't decided and they seem to complement each other at the moment)
daily copywork
daily oral narrations
Poetry for term 1-read a poem daily from Cautionary Tales for Children by Hilaire Belloc (hilarious!); term 2-poetry from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; term 3-poetry from Rudyard Kipling (I changed the AO order of poets for year 5 and took out Whittier/Dunbar to use Belloc instead.)
Math:
Saxon 6/5
Life of Fred Liver and Mineshaft
Xtra Math (for math fact drill along with Saxon practice sheets)
Religion:
The First Christians: The Acts of the Apostles for Children by Marigold Hunt
The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism 2
Mother Seton and the Sisters of Charity by Alma Power-Waters (term 1 saint reading)
Saint readings for term 2 & 3 have not been picked yet.
Foreign Language:
Latin was bought to be started but Tyler is not cooperating, so it is on hold at the moment. I had planned to use Latin for Children by Classical Academic Press. We may get a Greek book for Christmas per his request.
I will have another post on Caleb's 9th grade selections and our Morning Basket work coming up soon!
